Walden Town Meeting Preview

Walden’s Town Meeting is next Tuesday, March 6th at the Walden School, starting at 10:00 am.

The Walden School 8th graders will be providing childcare during the meeting. They will also be offering breakfast and lunch items. They are asking for donations for childcare and the food, to help with the cost of their class trip. Thank you!

Australian ballot voting on town officers will be from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm Tuesday at the school. You can request an absentee ballot or vote early at the Town Clerk’s office on Monday, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm.

Here are the offices and candidates on the ballot:

Town Clerk (1 year) - Lina Smith
Treasurer (1 year) - Lina Smith
Selectboard (3 years) - Randolph Wilson
Selectboard (2 years) - (no candidate); Bob [Robert] Hatch is a write-in candidate
Lister (3 years) - Diane Banister
Auditor (3 years) - Willi Woelfle
Auditor (1 year) - Robyn Cook-Hubner
Constable (1 year) - Lucas Persons
Tax Collector (1 year) - Lina Smith
Town Agent (1 year) - (no candidate)
Grand Juror (1 year) - (no candidate)
Library Trustee (5 years) - (no candidate)
Cemetery Commissioner (5 years) - (no candidate)
Cemetery Commissioner (1 year) - Larry Hubner

A write-in candidate can be elected with as few as 7 votes, as long as their name is on the Walden voter checklist and they receive more votes than any other candidate for that office. If you want to seek (or at least accept) write-in votes for any of these offices, I’ll be happy to let others know.

Note that since Walden voted last year to join the new Caledonia Cooperative Unified Union School District with Barnet and Waterford, Australian ballot voting on the district’s proposed budget and town representatives will take place at the District’s annual meeting on May 1st.

Walden’s State Representative Chip Troiano is scheduled to come by during the meeting to update us on the Legislature’s activities and public policy issues, and answer questions.

If you haven’t already looked at your Town Report, I’d recommend at least taking the time to read the Selectboard Report and the new Highway Dept. Winter Operations Policy on pages 7-9. (The email-attachment PDF version is still available if road conditions have kept you from picking up a paper copy.)

The select board has proposed FY2019 town and highway budgets that should yield a 2018 municipal property tax rate of a bit more than 0.63, down slightly from 2017's 0.6527 (with a cent on the municipal property tax representing about $10,000.) Savings from the board’s decision to reduce the road crew to 2 full-time employees has helped to stabilize revenue needs. The highway and general fund budgets will be discussed and decided at Tuesday’s floor meeting, and voters can amend proposed spending levels either up or down.

The select board is concerned about the low level of citizen interest and participation in town government. To address this, they’ve offered a proposal to use the Australian ballot system to approve town budgets, rather than the traditional Town Meeting discussion and floor vote. I’m hoping we’ll have an informative debate about this suggestion on Tuesday, and I’ll be sending out a separate email with my thoughts about the potential benefits and drawbacks of both procedures.

Please take advantage of the Town Meeting opportunity to participate in your local government, as well as to get better acquainted with your fellow Walden residents.